Impaired carotid viscoelastic properties in women with polycystic ovaries.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to assess the elastic properties of the carotid arteries in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, asymptomatic women with polycystic ovaries, and healthy controls. METHODS AND RESULTS We recruited the following 60 subjects: 20 symptomatic women with polycystic ovaries attending the reproductive endocrinology clinics, 20 asymptomatic women with polycystic ovaries attending the family planning clinic, and 20 staff volunteers as healthy controls with normal ovaries on transvaginal scan. Compliance and stiffness index were assessed in the common and internal carotid arteries using duplex ultrasound equipped with an echo-locked arterial wall-tracking system. Compliance was significantly lower in the common carotid artery in symptomatic and asymptomatic women with polycystic ovaries than in the controls (10.7, 14.1, and 19.2 %mm Hg(-1)x10(-2), respectively). The arterial stiffness index was correspondingly increased (12.3, 10.2, and 6.7, respectively). Similar results were obtained in the internal carotid artery for compliance (10.1, 11.0, and 16.9 %mm Hg(-1)x10(-2), respectively) and stiffness index (14.8, 16.2, and 8.7, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study provide additional evidence of vascular dysfunction in women with polycystic ovaries and are compatible with the hypothesis that they are at increased risk from coronary artery disease and stroke.